COURT OF RECORD. A judicial organiz ed tribunal having attributes and exercising functions independently of the person of the magistrate designated generally to hold it, and proceeding according to the course of the common law. Ex parte Gledhill, 8 Metc. (Mass.) 171, per Shaw, C. J.
A court where the acts and proceedings are enrolled in parchment for a perpetual memorial and testimony. 3 Bla. Com.' 24.
A court which has jurisdiction to fine and imprison, or one having jurisdiction of civil causes above forty shillings, and proceeding according to the course of the common law. Woodman V. Somerset County, 37 Me. 29, All courts are either of record or not of record. The possession of the right to fine and imprison for contempt was formerly considered as furnishing decisive evidence that a court was a court of rec ord; Co. Litt. 117 b, 260 a; 1 Salk. 144 ; 12 Mod. 318; 2 Wms. Saund. 101a; Viner, Abr. Courts; and it is said that the erection of a new tribunal with this power renders it by that very fact a court of record; 1 Salk. 200; 12 Mod. 388; 1 Woodd. Lect. 98; 3 Bla. Corn. 24, 25; but every court of record does not possess this power; 1 Sid. 145; 3 Sharsw. Bla. Com. 25, n. The mere fact that a permanent record is kept does not, in modern law, stamp the character of the court; since many courts, as pro bate courts and others of limited or special jurisdic tion, are obliged to keep records and yet are held to be courts not of record. See Smith v. Rice, 11 Mass. 510; Smith v. Morrison, 22 Pick. (Mass.) 430; Scott v. Rushman, 1 Cow. (N, Y.) 212; Thomas v.. Robinson, 3 Wend. (N. Y.) 268; Snyder v. Wise, 10 Pa. 158; Silver Lake Bank v: Harding, 6 Ohio, 545; Bancroft v. StaiOton, 7 Ala. 351; Ellie v. White, 25 Ala. 540. The definition first given above is taken from the opinion of Shaw, C. J., in Ex parte Gled hill, 8 Metc. (Mass.) 171, with an additional element not required in that case for purposes of distinction, and is believed to contain all the distinctive quali ties which can be said to belong to all courts tech nically of record at modern law. To be a court of
record, a court must have a clerk and a seal ; Lewis Co. v. Adamski, 131 Wis. 311, Ill N. W. 495. As to what are courts of record and courts not of record in England, see 2 Odgers, C. L. 1021. , Courts may be at the same time of record for some purposes and not of record for others; Wheaton v. Fellows, 23 Wend. (N. Y.) 376; Lester v. Redmond, 6 Hill (N. Y.) 590; Ex parte Gledhill, 8 Metc. (Mass.) 168. Courts of record have an inherent power, independently of statutes, to make rules for the transaction of business ; but such rules must not contravene the law of the land; Fullerton v. Bank, 1 Pet. (U. S.) 604, 7 Ly Ed, 280; Boas v. Nagle, 3 S. & R. (Pa.) 253; Snyder v. Bauchman, 8 S. & R. (Pa.) 336; Risher v. Thomas, 2 Mo. 98. They can be deprived of their jurisdiction by express terms of denial only ; Kline v. Wood, 9 S. & R. (Pa.) 298; 2 Burr. 1042; 1 W.. Bla. 285. Actions upon the judgments of such courts may, under the statutes of limitations `of some of the states of the United States, be brought after the lapse of the period of limi tation for actions on simple contracts ; and this provision has given rise to several de terminations of what are and what are not courts of record. See Smith v. Morrison, 22 Pick. (Mass.) 430; Mowry v. Cheesman, 6 Gray (Mass.) 515; Lester v. Redmond, 6 Hill (N. Y.) 590; Scott v. Rushman, 1 Cow. (N. Y.) 212 ; Ellis v. White, 25 Ala. 540; Wood man v. Somerset County, 37 Me. 29.
Under the naturalization act of the United States, "every court of record in a state having common-law jurisdiction and a seal and a clerk or prothonotary" has certain specified powers. As to what the require ments are to constitute a court of record un der this act, see Carter v. Gregory, 8 Pick. (Mass.) 168; Wheaton v. Fellows, 23 Wend. (N. Y.) 375.
A writ of error lies to correct erroneous proceedings in a court of record; 3 Bla. Com. 407; Gay v. Richardson, 18 Pick. (Mass.) 417; but will not lie unless the court be one, technically, of record ; Smith v. Rice, 11 Mass. 510. See WRIT OF ERROR.